Last updated: 15 July, added Panathenaia link, edited Khalkeia, Kallynteria and Plynteria, added Bibliography
Panathenaia
28 Hekatombaion (July/August)
A New Year festival in Athens which takes place each year (Lesser Panathenaia) with a grander version every four years (Greater Panathenaia).
A nocturnal celebration, the pannykhis, would take place before the festival, with a torch race and singing. The winner of the torch race would get to light the fire at Athena’s altar. During the Panathenaia there were various sports competitions but also musical contests, poetry recitals and pyrrhic dances. The prizes for these could be money, crown wreaths or amphoras of sacred olive oil depending on the event and age group.
Sacrifices of oxen would be made to Athena Polias, Athena Nike and Athena Hugeia and a massive feast would follow. Perhaps one of the most important parts of this festival was the presentation of the robe to Athena Polias that would have been started in the Khalkeia.
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Kallynteria and Plynteria
24 Thargelion (May/June)
Kallynteria and Plynteria were a pair of connected sacred days whose exact days are unknown. Kallynteria, coming from a word meaning to sweep or cleanse, was the day where the temple of Athena was cleaned out. This was possibly also the day where the ever-burning lamp of Athena Polias was refueled and relit.
Plynteria may have taken place the day after, and was when the robe and jewelry of the cult statue of Athena Polias was removed for cleaning by women. There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether the statue itself was removed from the temple for washing (Parke, Simon, Ogden, Deacy) or not (Burkert, Larson); it seems more likely that this was indeed conflated with a different annual ritual - the washing of the Palladion. The Palladion was a statue of Athena which resided in a law court that oversaw the trials of crimes such as murder, and thus due to this exposure the statue was washed with sea water or carried to the sea at Phaleron by epheboi (young men) to be purified of miasma.
The day of Plynteria was considered apophras, an unlucky day of ill omen, because it was believed that the goddess was absent from the city on this day.
In modern practice, this might be a good time for a deep spring clean of your room or home and items. Donate what you don’t need or use or what has been sitting around “just in case.”
Arrhephoria
Shortly after Plynteria, the nocturnal festival of the Arrephoria takes place. This festival features the Arrhephoroi, two young girls who have lived about a year on the Acropolis, who on this day perform their last duty of priestly service. Pausanias is the main source for this rite, and describes how the Arrhephoroi carry baskets on their heads with secret things within that neither they nor the priestesses know. These baskets are carried through an “enclosure” near the sanctuary of Aphrodite ‘in the Gardens’ and down a natural underground passage. They then leave what they have brought and then pick up some other veiled thing to take to the Acropolis. Immediately after this, the young girls are discharged from service. The general belief is that this may have been some kind of fertility rite.
Khalkeia
30 Puanepsion (October/November)
On the last day of the month of Pyanopsion is the Khalkeia (“Bronze”) festival which was celebrated by smiths and artisans. It honored Athena, especially under the epithets Ergane and Hephaistia, and Hephaistos, as deities of crafts. However, the offerings we still have records for were all dedicated to Athena, likely as a tithe from their profits, and it seems that Athena was primarily if not exclusively the deity to which craftsmen turned to in aid of their careers.
It was during this festival that the loom for the sacred panathenaic peplos would be set up, and presumably the female workers (ergastinai) would begin with the weaving. They would have been assisted by the 7-10 year old arrephoroi dressed in white, though due to their age it is uncertain how involved the young girls were in the actual weaving.
Ideas for Modern Celebration
Begin or finish and offer a craft project to Athena Ergane or Athena Hephaistia
Offer something hand crafted if you’re not crafty yourself
Light a candle for Athena Ergane
Give an offering to or light a candle for Hephaistos
Take a day off work if feasible
Wear white
Bibliography
Burkert, Walter - Greek Religion (1977, trans. 1985)
Deacy, Susan - Athena (2008)
Deacy, Susan & Villing, Alexandra - Athena in the Classical World (2001)
Larson, Jennifer - Ancient Greek Cults (2007)
Larson, Jennifer - Understanding Greek Religion (2016)
Mansfield, John - The Robe of Athena and the Panathanaic Peplos (1985)
Mikalson, Jon D. - Ancient Greek Religion (2nd ed. 2010)
Neils, Jenifer - Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens (1994)
Ogden, Daniel - A Companion to Greek Religion (2007)
